How FPV Drones Are Making a Mark in Real Estate

Did you know that, according to MLS statistics, properties listed with aerial imagery are nearly seventy percent more likely to sell than those without? Good news is, drone photography has made it easier than ever for an agent to offer a bird’s eye view of a property. Now, FPV (or First-Person View) drones are expanding the way drones can be used for real estate.

Why drones?



Seventy percent is a pretty strong case for offering a drone photography service as part of your real estate marketing mix. And yet, only about one third of real estate agents take advantage of the technology. That leaves a lot of room for an agent who is open to expanding the list of services they offer.

You know that the way homes are marketed has evolved over time, largely as a result of the internet. Today, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram allow for almost instant engagement. Facebook Live, Zoom, and other virtual video conferencing tools connect people in ways that only the Jetsons knew a few decades ago. And various forms of virtual tours have

revolutionized the real estate market. 

Online marketing options have become a staple in today’s market, especially in the wake of COVID-19, where virtual open houses are a new normal. Add to that, the growing trend of home purchases performed “sight-unseen” and it is clear that virtual imagery is an essential element of real estate marketing. Unavailable not very many years ago, 3D home tours have come to be expected in a market where more than ninety percent of people shopping for a home begin their search online.

But services like Matterport (that offers a 3D “digital twin” of any physical space) are not the only means to a virtual tour. Drones do that as well. A drone does not afford some of the features of a 3D tour. It cannot, for instance, give viewers the ability to navigate from place to place, or to look around in any direction at will, or to take measurements. But one thing that a drone does afford is an overhead view from the sky formerly available only from an airplane.

Aerial photos and videos for real estate have been available for decades. But until recently, those images required an agent to hire a photography service that worked from an airplane or a helicopter. That was an expensive option usually reserved for high-end homes. But with the advancement in drone technology, any agent can learn aerial photography. Of course, that does not mean that every agent should (in fact, there are some pretty good reasons it is a better idea to hire a drone photography service), nor that every agent would desire to do so. But those advancements have made it practical to consider drone photography for any listing.

Drones have advantages over traditional aerial photography beyond cost and availability. Where an airplane can afford sweeping overviews of large estates or vacant properties, drones are able to home in and capture details. They can fly in areas entirely unavailable to full-sized aircraft. Drones can provide essentially the same wide views as their much larger flying cousins, but they can also swoop down and take a peek at the roof of a house, or the pool and patio. They can fly down the street, up the driveway, and right on through the front door.

At least, a FPV drone can.

The FPV difference



Anyone who has played a video game in 3D with a virtual reality (VR) headset understands there is a difference between viewing a racetrack or a battlefield and being immersed in one. The same can be said for putting on VR goggles to view a virtual tour. The environment is far more engaging as it places the viewer directly into the space.

With a FPV drone, the pilot is the one immersed. Traditional drones require the pilot to control the craft from the perspective of the ground, by viewing both the flying drone and a video screen displaying what the camera sees. With FPV, the pilot wears specialized VR goggles to see exactly what the drone sees. Just like playing a role through an avatar in an immersive VR video game.

How might that make a difference? Because of the pilot’s perspective, the smaller and lighter-weight FPV drones are able to fly faster and with more accuracy. That makes them perfect candidates for drone racing, freestyle flying, and… real estate videography.

And because FPV drones are more precise and maneuverable, they are perfectly suited for use indoors. That means it is entirely possible to fly through the entryway, into the foyer, and around every room in a home to create a real estate video where virtual viewers online can get a sense that they are walking through a home. Or get wide-angle views of larger rooms with a better perspective than what a photograph might lend.

Now, it might not make sense to pilot a drone through, say, a nine hundred square foot ranch in the same way that it does to showcase a larger or luxury home through the eyes of a drone. But it might. And it makes a good deal of sense to tour a commercial property indoors with a drone. 

FPV is the next step in the history of the drone and is making a mark in real estate by opening up a whole new world inside a home.